Block Grant Partnerships (BGPs) are awards made to Research Organisations (ROs) for an allocation of postgraduate studentships in specific subject areas and schemes (ie Masters or Doctoral). The allocations are for 5 cohorts of students, commencing with students beginning their postgraduate study in the 2009-10 academic year.
The studentship places will be advertised by the RO on an annual basis (these may vary from year to year depending on their allocation). The organisation will shortlist candidates based on open competition and shortlisted students will be nominated to AHRC. All students must meet our eligibility criteria (see Guide to Student Eligibility). AHRC plays no part in the assessment and selection of students so if you are a student you need to contact the organisation directly to find out about their selection processes.
A list of organisations that have a BGP award is available, along with a summary of the total studentships offered under the BGP awards by scheme and subject. The first round of the BGPs ensured stability of arts and humanities disciplines, in the context of previous AHRC funding patterns.
Please note that if your organisation is eligible for AHRC postgraduate funding but is not listed above, funding is available via the annual Studentship Competition.
Closing date for receipt of BGP proposals is 4pm on 2 September 2008
Organisations must submit their proposal through the cross-council Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) System. The proposal form, with detailed question specific helptext, is avaliable. The BGP Proposal Guidance document below provides details on the content of this proposal form in order to aid organisations in planning their proposal.
List of organisations with BGP funding (65kb)
Summary of the total studentships offered (71kb) (by scheme and subject)
Postgraduate Funding Opportunities FAQs (59kb)
Large Print Postgraduate Funding Opportunities FAQs (36kb)
Guide to Student Eligibility (449kb)
Studentship Terms and Conditions (111kb)
Guide to Student Recruitment and Nomination (166kb) gives guidance on how students should be recruited to the BGP studentship places.
BGP Award Holder Guide (272kb)
BGP Terms and Conditions (163kb)
Application and Assessment Process
Guidelines for BGP Applicants (191kb)
List of Organisations with annual average number of awards offered (2003-2007) (19kb). In order to eligible to apply to the BGP scheme, orgainisations must have an average of 8 award offers or above. If you are considering applying in collaboration, please consult the Guidelines for BGP Applicants, noting that any collaboration must be at organisational level and must have a sound academic basis.
BGP and Studentship Competition Frequently Asked Questions (101kb)- this is a live document, updated as new questions arise.
Membership of BGP Moderating Panel (23kb)
Research Training Framework
In 2004 the AHRC introduced a framework of research training requirements for its doctoral award holders.
Information for Current award holders
For any enquires please email pgnewschemes@ahrc.ac.uk